Chaos and Kanji is the blog where I write about my adventures through Japan!

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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

New Release: 2014 BBM Sekibetsu Kyuujin (Farewell) Box Set

Every year, BBM issues a set honoring the better players who announced their retirement the prior season. The base set is 27 cards, with less than 27 different players featured.
 The same "logo" (惜別球人) is used every year, which basically translates as "Regret at Parting Ball Players" - a farewell party of sorts. The card fronts are fairly simple and include the player's jersey number, name, position, and team. Ikki Shimamura did not finish his 10 year career with the Buffaloes; his last three years with the BayStars - 2013 was spent on the ni-gun (minor league) team, where he posted a dismal .184 batting average. Granted, he has a career average of .233 in the NPB. Shimamura does not have a card for his stay with the BayStars, but some players have two cards with different teams.
The backs give biographical and career statistical data, as well as a writeup about the player's career. Cards are numbered near the bottom, and "惜別球人" appears on the copyright line. 3000 box sets were produced.

As expected, each box set contains the complete 27-card base set and one special card. There are two types.
BBM Image
There are nine foil signature cards with a slightly different card design. These cards have grey backgrounds and of course foil signatures. There are two types: a gold foil signature numbered to 160, and a holo-foil signature numbered to 67 or 70.
BBM Image
Eleven players signed cards for the set, or at least signed stickers that were put on these cards. There are between 40 and 120 autographed cards per player. Some players are in both the foil signature and autograph sets, while others appear in neither (such as Shimamura). Images for the base set, foil signature, and autograph set are all the same.

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